Q: Does Google Apps allow you to monitor student email?
A: Not to my knowledge. This wasn't a big deal for my district, because we never had a product with this capability before. If you need to monitor student email, you should check out Gaggle.net or ePals SchoolMail products instead. ePals SchoolMail is free. Gaggle charges a per-account annual fee. Gaggle can be used in conjunction with Google Apps.
Q: Can you set up separate domains for students and staff?
A: Yes. You can set up lots of domains. Also, you can now set up sub-domains within your domain. Capability is limited, but growing.
Q: What's the best way to get started?
A: Create a domain (it's free and easy) and start playing around.
Q: Where can I get more training on Google Apps?
A: I recommend two great educators, Naomi Harm (http://myonepage.com/nharm) and Chad Kafka (http://www.chadkafka.com/) They are great for training teachers. I can do it, too, but they are probably better than I am at teacher training, while I focus on the technical implementation issues.
Google Apps
Going Google: Oregon School District's Journey to Google AppsGetting Started with Google Apps
Relevant links
Overcoming reservations to using Google Apps- a great answer to common myths and rumorsGoogle Apps for K-12 Education
Cost savings calculator
Whitepaper: Measuring to Total Economic Impact of Google Apps (PDF)
Postini email management services (owned by Google)
New migration features in Postini
How to restrict students to sending email to only certain domains.
Email address for Google Education Sales: education-solutions@google.com
Google Voice now allows you to use a non-Google number.
Chad Kafka's Google Apps in the Classroom presentation
FAQ
Q: Does Google Apps allow you to monitor student email?A: Not to my knowledge. This wasn't a big deal for my district, because we never had a product with this capability before. If you need to monitor student email, you should check out Gaggle.net or ePals SchoolMail products instead. ePals SchoolMail is free. Gaggle charges a per-account annual fee. Gaggle can be used in conjunction with Google Apps.
Q: Can you set up separate domains for students and staff?
A: Yes. You can set up lots of domains. Also, you can now set up sub-domains within your domain. Capability is limited, but growing.
Q: What's the best way to get started?
A: Create a domain (it's free and easy) and start playing around.
Q: Where can I get more training on Google Apps?
A: I recommend two great educators, Naomi Harm (http://myonepage.com/nharm) and Chad Kafka (http://www.chadkafka.com/) They are great for training teachers. I can do it, too, but they are probably better than I am at teacher training, while I focus on the technical implementation issues.
Q: What about FERPA?
A: There is a good discussion of this at http://www.mguhlin.org/2010/03/revisiting-ferpa-and-googleapps-good.html
G Suite Updates Blog
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